"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:42:41 +0100, "OG"
wrote:

Not sure what you are saying - in summary is it one of these?
a) you believe in God, but think he/it is evil

I believe he is simply pointing out the logical conclusion that if you
believe some god responds to prayers by helping children, such a god is
intrinsically evil for placing the child in such a bad condition in the
first place.

Ah, when non-believers start talking about the 'logical conclusion' of what
belief means, it reminds me of all the people who feel themselves qualified
to comment on relativity - you know the ones, they haven't got a clue what
they are talking about but feel qualified to comment.

b) you think that the rational response of people who believe in God
should
be as 'a)'

Rational people don't believe in gods. Or perhaps it would be better to
say that a belief in gods is inherently irrational, so a person who
believes in a god has, at the very least, a big hole in their overall
degree of rationality.

I'm not so sure about that. A sense of the numinous is a very human trait,
and there are two possible sources for this sense. Either it is an artifice
made up of unresolved attempts to rationalise the world, or it is a new
sensory capability that arises from the complexity of the brain. You can
argue either way, but I don't see that it is inherently more rational to say
it is one rather than the other.

c) you don't believe in God but think you know better than people who do

Anybody who doesn't believe in a god is operating on far more
intellectually stable ground than anybody who does.

I know some very dull, inimaginative ignorant people who work from a very
'stable' intellectual ground indeed.

d) you think you know what people who believe in the power of prayer
believe
in even though you don't believe in the things that they believe; and,
because you believe they believe in the things you believe they believe
(but
you don't yourself believe in them) they are mistaken.

It's not a matter of belief. The power of prayer- at least in medical
matters- has been scientifically demonstrated to be non-existent.

And that proves nothing about the existence of God. Surely you accept that!

BTW, what's your view on the existence of Mathematics?

No response from Davoud yet, I notice.